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Most Wanted, Part Three
'Tyrants, Issue 14. "Most Wanted, Part Three." ' '''Front cover- '''Team Titan Italy stand in the streets of Vatican City, looking shocked. In the foreground, pointed towards them, is a broad sword. Romulus, the team leader stands front and centre; he is wearing a cybernetic powersuit, painted grey, with wolf-ear like points at the top, with the helmet in a shape reminiscent of wolves. His face is visible though indistinguished due to the yellow visor. He is bent over somewhat, long metallic claws having sprouted from his gauntlets. At his right side is Remus, the robotic wolf, which looks obviously robotic and is painted red, its eyes glowing yellow. Behind Remus is Spaghetti Western, a tall woman with long black hair tied into a ponytail, a large black Stetson hat, dressed in black waistcoat, loosened white shirt and a brown skirt. She has a domino mask on, a pistol in one hand, and lasso in the other. Stood to Romulus's left, just behind him, is Cross-Fire; he wears a white costume which covers his head but leaves his face clear to see, and seems to be in his late forties. There is also a cross-shape on the chest of his costume which exposes his bare skin, and he is otherwise fully clothed. So wide that he stands behind Cross-Fire (a tall stocky gentleman himself), Romulus and Remus, is Last Century, a top-less man with ridiculously bulging muscles, wearing a red battle-skirt and a golden centurion's helmet which obscures his face. His torso is ridiculously hairy, he has particularly huge knuckles, and he wears a red cloak about his shoulders. Floating just above the team is Jupiter, a transparent containment suit containing swirling red gas inside it. The suit is formed into a bipedal shape with large limbs, but no particular bulge to indicate a head. Jupiter is 'short' in human terms, but wider than Last Century. Flying in the background is Javelin, an averaged sized young woman with hair tied into pig-tails, wearing goggles and a brown flight cap, dressed in a green jumpsuit. The comic opens with Rook, as he opens the briefcase of Surge. He looks up as the reader sees the panel engulfing sound effect of an alarm. AWOOGA AWOOGA AWOOGA. "Ah." He looks back at the case. "It appears I have been set up." Narration- "Not Long Ago." The comic cuts to the desk of Director Waterstone, the back of her head shown to the reader, as Captain Marvel's face is enlarged on the view screen. "I'm sorry, Director. He got away with a case of Surge, and the one that twigged you on to put us all on security detail, the one found in the road two days ago, the missing one that coudln't be accounted for due to none of the Surge stocks being touched? Turns out that was the first one this thief stole today; he timed travelled back with it, got hit by a car, case got totalled. Turns out we were dealing with a teleporter and a time traveller. I knew when to travel back to initially to stop him... but a car stopped him for. Unfortunately, some of the Surge had splashed on him. He regenerated before my eyes, fled back to the present. He managed to freeze a few of the others and make off with another case. I had no idea where he was going this time to track him. Again, I am greatly sorry." Director Waterstone asks "This guy a Texan cowboy by any chance?" "Yes ma'am." "Then I know who we are dealing with, and as he is a gun and thief for hire, I think I know who we might be dealing with, to a greater extent. But, no need for apologies. You did your best. And when a case of Surge goes missing, that isn't missing, you take precautions. I took the liberty of having trackers installed in those cases." "Permission to go and kick the guy's head in, ma'am?" "Denied. I don't think the case is gonna stay in this country for long... in fact, I doubt its here now." "Then good luck to ever Team Titan gets the job. They'll need it, this cowboy..." "Texas Holdem." "He's a sticky bugger, ma'am." "Ohhhhh, I know. And if his boss is still who I think it is, then he is worse." The comic cuts back to Rook. In both hands, he has readied a sword. He looks at the metal door in front of him, where there are many sound effects; BOOOOM. RATTA-TATTA-TATTA. EEEEEEEE. SHREKT. RATTA-TATTA-TATTA. BAM BAM BAM. BOOOOOOOOM. He looks behind at the other door. "RAAAAAAAARGH!" BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM. RATTA-TATTA-TATTA. BOOM BOOM BOOM. VASSSSSSSSSH! BOOM! He looks to the wall, which has a series of black and white CCTV monitors, showing several corridors, strewn with debris and fire. There are turrets in the walls, ceiling and floor, destroyed, smoking wrecks mostly, though there are still a few active. Team Titan Italy are split into two squad; Romulus and Remus, Spaghetti Western and Jupiter, who have destroyed all their turrets, and Javelin, Last Century and Cross-Fire, still fighting turrets, as bullets bounce off of Last Century, taking the flak, whilst Cross-Fire fires white beams of energy from his chest. "Jupiter first. Good." Rook takes one hand off of his sword. There is a panel of him pressing a remote in his left trouser pocket. TK. On either side of him, wall-panels open up, with giant industrial fans. Rook then puts both hands back on his sword, sets his feet apart, and stands ready. The case stands in between his legs. The metal door in front of him flies off. Rook nimbly side-steps the door as it flies past him. "(GSPD! You're under arrest.)"* says Jupiter. Narration- *Translated from Italian. Jupiter steps through the doorway, inflating his body to mostly fill the corridor. "(Drop the sword!)" Being living gas in a suit, his speech bubble is red, and doesn't directly come from the character, it merely appears around him. Rook, wearing his mask still, remains completely still, saying nothing indicating nothing. Jupiter steps into the room further, as Romulus and Remus file in on either side of him, just behind him. "(You are outnumbered and surrounded. Drop the sword and kneel on the ground.)" Rook relaxes his sword, and a hand reaches for his pocket. Jupiter flies forward "(NO you DON'T!)" Rook presses another button as the fans start to whir. Jupiter lunges at him, and Rook slashes him across the chest of his containment suit. Romulus flinches as the cloud of red gas is blasted back at him as Jupiter screams "Hey. heyyyyyyyy....." Romulus looks back down the corridor behind him to Spaghetti Western. "Get back! He's toxic!" The cowgirl nods and starts running back down the corridor. She stops as she sees a shadow before her. "Now ma'am, she better be from the Old West, and not jus' wearin' some costume, or ah'm gonna be ''real ''insulted" says the speech bubble from off-panel. Romulus leaps at Rook. "Who are you!" He slashes his claws at Rook, who nimbly blocks each claw-gauntlet with his sword. Remus latches onto one of Rook's legs, as blood runs down, but Rook does not flinch. "The winner." He pulls out a lighter. As the flame flicks, on Romulus's eyes widen. Rook throws the lighter at the Jupiter containment suit, which is leaking his gas rapidly. Jupiter explodes. The comic cuts to show Spaghetti Western in three panels. In each panel, she is in a running pose. However, she does not move from the spot. In the final panel, the fire is mere feet behind her. On the next page she turns. "AhhhhH!!" She then leaps. The rest of the page shows her flung out of an underground bunker, several feet into the air, following by the fireball. She lands several feet away, unconscious. Cowskin boots appear by her face. "You lucky ah didn't you freeze you the entire tahm. You did insult me." Texas Holdem's face bends over hers "But you got a pretty face." Holdem looks over his shoulder. A shadow cascades over him. "Come on, bud. Tahm to go and be the heroes." The comic shows a massive rent in the ground that has torn apart a street of Vatican City, at least a hundred foot long, now forming a long manmade ravine where the road was. There are totalled and upturned cars, some partially through building walls and through windows, and there are people on the floor everywhere. The comic shows the rent in the ground from above, and rubble within it. A fist punches through it. Rook pulls himself out of the rubble, closely followed by a pair of metal claws. Rook climbs out onto the street, the case of Surge in one hand, broad sword across his back. Romulus is burrowing his way of the rubble, below him. "You're insane! You could have killed yourself!" Rook looks down. "Hardly relevant." He walks off out of Romulus's view. The reader sees Rook walks towards them, two shadows stretched across the road before him, one clearly with the hat of Holdem, the other is a a shadow less human, with many spiralling coils. "Ah, I see you finished the mission. Not quite the result I was expecting but..." "Yeah, didn't make his spine work... so, uh... may buddy improvised, didn't you Grapplor?" Still off-panel, he replies with "Si." Romulus leaps out of the hole, his legs locking around Rook's shoulders, as he readies to bring his claws down. "(You don't get to walk away from me!)" A tendril of kinetic energy (purple) impacts with Romulus's neck, flinging him off, back down into the rent in the road. Rook looks back, dusting off the shoulder of his still completely somehow undamaged, completely clean, suit. "(I climbed!)" he yells back. He looks back to the others. Texas is surveying the destruction. "Wavered the no killing thang then?" He looks over to the unconscious Western. "Wish you'd a told me." Rook looks back as well. "Desperate times, despera- look out." A green streak flies along the road at them. It flies past Rook. "Oh." He looks to Holdem, as he is hit at full force. And flung off down the street. "Take my escape route. Holdem, they noticed you. It seems we are all getting sloppy." He looks back at the shadow. "But you, you are the wild card. Get me Holdem back." The comic cuts to show Grapplor; he is still in a hospital gown, his body from the neck down, dangling limply. He still also wears an oxygen mask, though not connected to a machine, it is just for show. From his spine, he is being held up off the ground by several feet via the medium of ten tentacles of pure shadow, five on each side of him. "No. More come. I hold. Test. You get your friend." Rook nods. "Brave and valiant. You have my respect." Rook looks back to the rent in the road as there is a sound of "RRAAAAAAAAAAARGH!" again. "The robot likely survived. Romulus will be very peeved. Last Century is new and by all reports powerful. Cross-Fire will remain at distance to hurl energy at you. Fight well." Rook pats Grapplor on an arm because he cannot reach the shoulder. "Not luck?" asks Grapplor. "In my many centuries of life, I never encountered such thing as luck." Rooks runs off down the road after Javelin and Holdem. Romulus leaps out of the hole again. Below, there is an AWOOOOOOOOO. Romulus ducks as a load of rubble flies into the air, and then Remus climbs out of the hole, a little dented, but still quite functional. With the rubble mostly gone in the chamber below, several holes are punched in the remaining door, punching through it, as Last Century steps into the room He looks up, then turns to Cross-Fire. "(You need a help up?)" "(If it wouldn't be too much trouble.)" Romulus looks at Grapplor. "So what your story?" he says in English. "Mi amo GRAPPLOR! Great luchador!" "And what about the tendrils?" "Is gift from friend." Romulus approaches, warily, claws out again, as he speaks, as he tries to circle around Grapplor. "And the crime?" "Luchador is not pay so well." "And it looks like your masked friend has the resources to pay very well." "Actually, he say he broke." Last Century leaps out of the hole with Cross-Fire, landing next to Remus. Last Century points to Rook. "He's getting away, boss." "Then get after him. Remus, go with Century. Cross-fire, we take Grapplor. Javelin's dealing with the teleporter as we speak." The comic cuts to show a large outdoor cafe area, filled with tables and chairs. Javelin and Holdem smash through several, as they sail into the air behind them. Javelin in repeatedly bashing Holdem's head against the pavement as they fly along it. Javelin comes screeching to a halt. Holdem is thoroughly unconscious. She picks him up by the scruff of his coat. "Better get you in some power-cuffs before you regenerate... which I guess is seconds. But then I am the fastest woman in Europe!" She flies up into the air. Rook looks up as he sees the rapidly disappearing speck of Javelin. He stops running and looks around him at parked cars. "All right Rook. Time for a new escape route." He tears the door off of a fancy red sports car. He looks up as Last Century leaps towards him, and throws the door. The door takes Century in the chest, and tosses him over a garden wall, as Last Century thunders into a swimming pool. Rook sees the water splash over the garden wall. Then he sees Remus running at him, as the robot wolf howls. Rook instinctively clamps his hands over his ears. The windows off the car he has just torn the door off of, shatter. Rook and the car are hurled backwards. Rook picks himself up, staggering. "It seems that today is not a day for escape routes." Then he puts his hand over his face to shield his eyes, even though the reader cannot see his eyes through the mask. There is a descending glow of electricity in the air, and within that, floats a human form. "Hey Rook, I was in the area, and I saw the explosion, and I ''just ''had to drop by." He then phases into Remus, taking over the robot wolf. "Before you make any rash actions, I am still perfectly willing to pay you for the Germany job." The wolf glares at Rook. Again, it howls. End of issue.